Messi’s year in the US: Inter Miami changes the face of MLS in 2023

The United States will close out 2023 as one of its most important years in sports history. The country started the countdown to become the focal point of international soccer for the next five years, being given the Copa America next summer, the World Cup in 2026 and the Olympic Games in 2028.

However, long before all that, 2023 will be remembered as the year of Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. The Argentine arrived in the United States with a mission to revolutionise soccer in a way never seen before; MLS used the momentum to catapult itself forward, becoming one of the most important leagues on the continent.

The World Cup winner arrives in MLS

The argument as to whether Messi is considered to football what the Pope is to the Christian religion is beyond doubt - he is the leading figure of the most followed sport in the world. The day of July 15, 2023 will go down in history as ‘Messi Day’ in North America, as it was when Inter Miami officially announced the worst kept secret causing the 8-time Ballon d’Or winner to instantly become the league’s biggest star.

With the World Cup under his arm, the ‘10′ landed in Florida at a stadium that was filled to the rafters. Messi arrived to turn the worst-performing squad in the league into the team to beat, or at least that was the Dream Team idea of David Beckham and the Mas brothers, but sometimes the beautiful game just doesn’t work out the way you want it to.

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Messi gives Miami Leagues Cup

The first challenge in the road for ‘Tata’ Martino’s new team was a resounding success, crossing the Leagues Cup title off the list and opening the trophy cabinet at the DRV PNK Stadium for the first time.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly; getting past everyone in their way, the team hung up ‘sold out’ signs in every stadium they passed through and became a sensation in the purest Harlem Globetrotters sense of the phrase. For a short while, Messimania was the undisputed buzzword in the United States... until everything went wrong.

Inter Miami did no achieve the playoffs

The other history-altering figure born on December 25, Isaac Newton, remains correct: everything that goes up inevitably comes back down, as happened with the bubble in which Inter Miami were living in the first half of Messimania. The dream of success ended up crashing to Earth in a fateful month of September, when The Herons suffered for the first time what Europeans call the dreaded FIFA Virus.

In a few simple games for Argentina in the South American Qualifiers, Messi broke down, effectively waving goodbye to the regular season. What once sounded like a orchestra whirring to victory turned into a the band playing on as Titanic sunk; the ‘sold out’ signs that were once hung up morphed into official statements apologising for the situation and refunds were given out to those who had paid to see the Argentine glide on the green.

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Messi wants to win more in 2024

Messidependencia is the other big word that has been coined in the United States this year; perhaps ‘No Messi, no party’ might be another way to say it. Without the ‘10′ on the field, Miami devolved, regrowing scales and gills, shrinking back into the team than anyone in the league could swat aside: confidence wained as worried eyes flickering across the stands at the DRV PNK Stadium for any hope of a revival of their messiah.

The month that Messi was out was enough for Inter Miami to squander the chance to fight for the MLS playoffs and the US Open Cup. But the nightmare is over, and 2024 is expected to be a year full of emotions and trophies. The preseason fun will soon begin and Inter Miami want revenge, and now Messi has a new weapon in his arsenal: Luis Suárez.